Overview
- In June 2026, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing faster wildfire response and prevention after the January 2025 Los Angeles fires.
- Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz told Congress on July 22 that the agency will prioritize aggressive initial attack and that every fire now has a full‑suppression strategy.
- Drafts of recent federal proposals and the Fix Our Forests Act briefly included language like the 1933 “10 a.m.” rule but lawmakers and advocates removed the strict statutory mandate after pushback.
- Researchers point to the “Wildfire Paradox,” the idea that decades of near‑total suppression let fuel build up and make future fires hotter and harder to control, a warning voiced by scientists such as David Calkin.
- Fire managers say faster suppression reduces immediate danger, liability and near‑term costs, while critics warn that without large-scale fuel reduction and prescribed burns communities could face bigger blazes later and higher long‑term costs.